in small tribes.
The corpses on the ground have been picked up and buried. In such weather, the corpses will soon become stiff and frozen, and then they will be thrown out.
In the leader's yurt, the man who had talked to Zhang Qi before was sorting out the exchanged food.
With nearly a hundred kilograms of grain, plus the output of cattle and sheep, eating sparingly can almost sustain their tribe of only about forty people until the beginning of spring.
Oh, there are only more than 20 people left now. Zhang Qi has killed six of them, plus the dozen who were replaced, the pressure on the tribe is already very small.
With a bang, the wooden box in the yurt was violently knocked down.
The stubble-faced man glared at the man and said fiercely: "Amutu! You are too cowardly. If you had cooperated with me in robbing them before, our tribe would not only be able to survive well until spring, but also go out to trade people and replenish the tribe. strength!"
"You really don't deserve to be the leader!"
The bearded man stared at Amutu, his face full of anger and dissatisfaction.
Amutu chuckled and waved to the bearded man: "Come here and I'll tell you why you can't do anything."
The bearded man heard the words and leaned forward. Just as he was about to ask, a dagger pierced his chest.
"Because what the noble man said is that a tribe can only have one voice. I really can't understand why you dare to come to see me alone when all your people are dead!"
"you...."
The bearded man vomited blood and fell to the ground unwillingly.
"Idiot, you can't see the situation clearly, and you don't know how powerful the heavy armored cavalry is. All you can do is moan and groan all day long. If your people weren't still useful before, I would have wanted to kill you!"
Amutu wiped the dagger clean on the bearded man's body and couldn't help but smile.
"I don't know if I will have the opportunity to go to Han with that noble man in the future. If I can get a piece of equipment from the cavalry next to him, it will be worth it in this life."
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The yurt was set up again on the snowfield. The first feeling of the yurt surrounded by layers of leather was warmth.
The nine children have been placed in the yurt, and Bo is getting food for them.
On the other side, Zhang Qi and Ying were feeding the horses. Hui came over with the craftsman slave and the horse slave, and whispered a few words to Zhang Qi in a low voice.
Zhang Qi nodded, indicating that he understood, and then waved, and the two slaves knelt down in front of Zhang Qi.
"Are you all Han Chinese?"
The two slaves kneeling on the ground kept nodding: "Yes, Sir. We are all Han Chinese. The young man knows some crafts. His family is a groom who has raised horses for generations."
Among the two slaves, the middle-aged man who was obviously much older was talking to Zhang Qi.
Zhang Qi did not look back and continued to feed the horse. The horse's wet tongue licked the oats in his hand, making Zhang Qi itchy.
"How long have you been plundered by the Huns? Where do you live?"
"Returning to Lang Jun, the little old man is from Daijun, and his family may be gone now. When the Huns invaded the border area, there were only about ten people in the little old man's village alive. In the vast grassland, the little old man was also gone. I have no wishful thinking that I can still find them.”
"As for him, the little old man only knows that he is from Shangjun, and the other little old men don't know."
Zhang Qi hummed, turned around, patted the bran on his hands, looked at the manu who didn't speak much and asked: "Are you mute?"
Manu's eyes clearly showed fear, and he shook his head tremblingly: "Xiao... Xiaoxiao, I don't know what to say, please forgive me."
Zhang Qi nodded slightly, looked at Manu and continued to ask: "Shangjun... If I remember correctly, the Ma Garden ordered by Emperor Wen to be built is in Shangjun."
"Tell me, are there many horses in Shangjun?"
"Many...many. Your Majesty's original decree gave very favorable treatment to horse breeders. Not only can raising horses reduce taxes, but they can also avoid corvee labor. Therefore, there are many horse gardens in Shangjun, and there are thirty or forty large and small ones.
I don’t know how many horses there are now. Before I was robbed and brought to the grassland, there were already more than 200,000 horses in Shangjun. "
Zhang Qi nodded. There are more than 200,000 horses. It seems that the time has passed when Emperor Wu first ascended the throne. The number of horses is an obvious trigger of the incident. Emperor Wu is waiting for enough war horses to train the new army to deal with it. Xiongnu, that's why Zhang Qicai asked.
"By the way, your names?"
When the middle-aged man heard Zhang Qi's question, he asked about his name, and he felt a little expectant. Slave owners would not care about their names. They would only ask for names when talking to people.
"The little old man's surname is Lu, and the single character is wood."
After the middle-aged man finished speaking, Ma Nu followed closely and said, "The younger one is called Ma San, and he is the third eldest child in the family."
Zhang Qi pondered for a while and asked them to stand up.
"Well, I understand. From now on, you two will follow me. Ma San will continue to be responsible for raising horses. Lu Mu, please tell me later what kind of crafts you know so that I can arrange them for you. Do them well and you won't go hungry. Yours."
"Yes! Thank you Lang Jun for saving me. From now on, I will definitely die for Lang Jun."
"Same for the little one!"
Zhang Qigang asked them to stand up, but as soon as he finished speaking, the two men knelt down again. It was not that their knees were weak, but that these years of slavery had drained the last bit of their strength away.
"Okay, let's all go down. Ma San, you come and teach the eagle how to raise the horse. Lu Mu, Hui, you follow me."
After clapping his hands, Zhang Qi walked towards the yurt. Ma San stayed where he was, complimenting Ying beside him and began to take care of the horses, while Hui and the middle-aged man Lu Mu followed behind him.
Walking all the way to the yurt, he could smell a strong aroma before entering. Lu Mu followed Zhang Qi and swallowed hard. He had not eaten human food for several years.
Walking into the yurt, the children who were exchanged were holding food in their hands and devouring it. Because they were exchanged in the tribe, the ratio of men to women was almost the same. There were five boys and four girls among the nine people.
Zhang Qi entered the yurt and saw Bo. He was about to ask the children to salute, but Zhang Qi stretched out his hand to stop them.
After the children finished eating, Zhang Qi said: "Your parents handed you over to me. From now on, you will be my property. I will keep you fed, clothed and no longer hungry, but you need to listen to me." Yes, do you understand?"
All the children nodded and knelt on the ground to kowtow to Zhang Qi.
Taking advantage of the situation, Zhang Qi planted spiritual points in these children, and then sent them into the world of riding and slashing.
Eight of the nine children were sent in. Looking at the only boy left in the yurt, Zhang Qi showed a ferocious smile on his face.
"He is really an immature wolf cub!"
